Shoe-tree



p 30, 3 s. A. EDDINS ET AL SIDE Till Filed Feb. 18, 1927 w m N E V Patented Sept. 30, 1930 snx'rus AnnnmsAnn GERALD M. HANNIGAN, or QUINCY, MASSACHUSETTS, SSIGN- "PA T OFFICE BS M ocene-H ECOMPAN or nieoox'roiv, MASSACHUSETTS, A, IRM commas ING FRANCIS HANNIGAN ANDSEXTUS A. EDDINS Applicationfiled Februaryl 1927. Serial No. 169,249.

"This inven'tioiri elates to shoe trees and "is herein illustrated as embodied in a shoe tree constructed largelyfrom moldable sheet material.

It has long been understood that simple and practical shoe trees could be constructed by providing a toe piece constructed of moldable' sheet materialsuch, for example as celluloid, and combiningwith thissome' sort of a resilient or expansibl'e heelpiece. l he heel pieces ofsuch trees have commonly been-made of metal to the detriment ofthe pearance and utility of the tree.

general ap- Vith this in View, one obgect of the present invention is to provide an improved shoe tree of simple and relatively inexpensive construction having an attractive and a substantially uniform appearance throughout.

One featureof'the invention consists in a slioe'tre'e comprising'a toepiece of molded sheet material such as celluloid and a spring metal heel piece connected to the toe piece and provided wi-th a- 'decorative protective cover of flexible, non-oxidizable sheet material similar to the material of the toe piece so that it yvi-ll blend therewith and thereby not only improve the appearance of'the article but also protect the shoe from possible rust on the spring metal,

Another feature of the invention relates to a resilient heel piecehaving a cover of flexible material one end ofwhichis rigidly secured to one end of the heel piece, the cover being slid'ably secured to the heel piece adj acent to its other end. 1111, the illustrated construction the heel piece is made of resilient strip metal pivota'lly secured at one endto the toepiece of thetree and curved in the form of a loop at its outer-end. 7 A celluloid cover carried around the looped outer end of the heel piece'is rigidly attached at its rear end to the strip ofmetal and is attacli'edat' intervals along the length of' the heel piece by rivets passing throughslots in the cover to allow a slippage'betii'een the cover andthe metal strip a's 'tlie'latter is flexed; 7 metal reinforcement, ar'rangedto prevent u'n due bending of the spring of the heel'piece, is attached to theund'r side of theheel piece by a looselyclenched intermediaterivet.

Still other features of the invention consists in: providing, in a shoe tree,a holloW- toe piece of resilient material having a rigid bridge member loosely secured to the sides of said toe piece toallovv the relative expansion or'contraction of the toe piece vvith respect to the bridge so that the former Will be effective in closely engaging the inside of a shoe in which the'tree may be, inserted. 3 i I -These and other features are described in the following specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in Which Fig. 1 is a perspective view, with a section broken away, of the completed tree,

Fig. 2is aside elevation of a shoe having our novel tree inserted therein, and? A Figs: 3 and i are enlarged details. I g A "The toe piece 10 oi the tree is made of sheet celluloid, Which adapts itself particularly Well for the purpose because'of the ease With which it may be cut and formed and because of the many attractive colors and surface de signs in Which the material may be produced. This toe piece 10 is providedvvith inturned bottom flanges 12 0f curved contour so that they willnot interfere With the insertion or removal of the tree from a shoe and in order to make thetree slightly more rigid at the for- Preferably the trees are-made inaj variety of sizes-by varying the dimensions of the toe pieces and the length of the heel pieces. In

order to limit the flexibility of the toe piece, at the ball of the shoe, a rigid bridge member 16 is secured" to the intu'rn'ed flanges 12 by means of rivets 18 passing through short slots 1 20 in the flanges 12. It Will be understood that these rivets are not headed tightly against the material but thata certainairiount of .Ji p silien'ceof the toe piece willbring it into close engagement with the inside of ashoe in which it isinserted: This bridge member '16 pro- Jpage is allowed so that the natural revides for the attachment of a heel piece 22 tq the toe piece 10 and to this end the bridge member is provided with an upturned U shaped intermediate portion24ata suitable point in which there is provided a cross-bar 26 serving as a pivot for the forward endof the heel piece. The heel piece is preferably constructed of a strip of spring'metal 28 such as'stee-l formed into a small loop 3 at its forward end-surrounding the cross-bar 26. This small loop is so formed with relation to the spring member 28 that the center of the loo is in line with the len th of the sni'in b L D member. At the other end of the heel piece the sprmg member 28 is formed into a larger loop 32 the center ofwhich is also 111 line with the lengthof the heel piece and has a diameter equal to substantially twice the distance between the cross-bar 26 and the bottom of the toe piece. This arrangement results in holding the toe piece firmly against the bottom of a shoe when it is flexed in use so that it assumes the position illustrated in Fig. 2 with the heel piece acting-as a thrust spring between the heel end of the shoe and the toe i from those of the spring metal heel piece, said material being similar to that used for the construction of the toe piece so that it will blend therewith. In one desirable embodiment, as illustrated, the cover 34 is made of sheet celluloid matching the celluloid used in constructing the toe piece 10. Such a cover will have ample flexibility but less resilience than the spring metal of the heel piece and will be non-oxidizable. It will therefore avoid rusting of the steel piece and will protect the shoe fromv stains due to such rust. This cover member is bent around the loop 32 of the outer end of the heel piece and its end is secured rigidly to the heel piece by means of a rivet 36. This'rivet passes through two thicknesses of the sheet metal strip 28 and an interposed end 38 of the cover. The cover then extends along the top of the heel piece in closely superposed relation and is secured at intervals by rivets 40,42 and 44. Preferably, in order to facilitate the assembling of thetree in the course of its manufacture,

the hole througlrwhich the rivet 40 passes is slightlyelongated in order that there may be no difliculty in inserting this rivet because of a lack of registration between the hole in the cover and the hole in the spring piece 28.

We have discovered that itis highly important that provision be made for relative slippage between the cover 34 andthe metal strip 28 in order to permit the repeated flexure of the heel piece without destroying the cover or at least disengaging it from the spring strip. To this end, a slot 46 is provided at the inner orforward end of the cover 34 of the heel piece for the passage of the rivet 44. In the position of the heel piece illustrated in Fig. 1 this slot extends forw'ardly of the rivet but when the heel piece is flexed, as illustrated in Fig. 2, then the cover is drawn toward the rear relatively to the spring piece 28 so that the slot is largely back of the rivet 44 instead of in front of it. Preferably and chiefiyin order further to improve the appearance of the tree, the rivet 44 has a head ofconsiderable size so that most of the slot 46 is concealed in-either position of the tree. A similar slot 48 is provided for the passage of the rivet 44 but, because of the difference in the distance between said rivet 42 and the loop 32 of the heel piece, the slot 48'needs only to be approximately half as long as the slot 46. It will be understood that the rivet 42 is of assistance in keeping the cover 34 in engagement with the spring strip 28 when after a considerable period of flexure of the heel piece the latter is again extended into the position shown in- Fig. 1. under some conditions of use and temperature there may be a tendency. for the cover to retain its curvature instead of being straightened out with the spring member 28. This is entirely prevented, however, by the rivet 42 so that the coveris always kept in close contact with the upper side'of the spring strip 28. I

It has been found advantageous, too, to provide a reinforcement 50 adjacent to the middle of the heel spring to prevent undue bending of the heel spring to an extentsuiiicient to give the latter a permanent set. It is to be understood that, although the strip of spring metal 28 is so designed that, without being unduly heavy, it has sufficient strength and resilience, to withstand ordinary use, said strip is slightly weakened by the prescnceof the rivet hole adjacent to its center for the rivet 42. This resultant weakening is just enough so that a heel piece without the reinforcement 50 can he accidentally or intentionally bent to such an angle that it retains its set and thereby not only is ruined in appearance but is also rendered unfit for use, lVe have accordingly provided this reinforcement 50, which preferably is formed as a circular piece of thin sheet metal to avoid the need of turning it to any particular position in assembling, and have secured it to the under side of the heel spring by the rivet 42 used for holding the central portion of the cover 34. The diameter of this reinforcement is approximately equal to the width of the heel spring 28 and the rivet 42 is clenched'loosely, not only to allow slippage of the central part of the cover 34 grease 11 but also to hold the reinforcement in such a position that it contacts with the under side of the heel spring 28 only at its forward and backward, edges as said spring is flexed. This so distributes the strain of the bending of the heel piece that it is practically impossible to bend the heel piece manually so sharply that it will. retain its set.

The use of the device will be apparent from the illustration but it should be noted "that the tendency of the spring of the heel piece is not only to thrust the toe piece into position within the toe of the shoe and against the bottom. of the sole but further that the tendency is to thrust the looped end 32 of the heel piece into the bottom corner of the rear end of the shoe, and improved action of the tree in maintaining the shape of the shoe is thereby etl'ected.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a shoe tree, a toe piece, a resilient heel piece formed of flat spring metal, and a decorative protective covering of sheet celluloid for said heel piece rigidly secured to said heel piece adjacent to one end thereof and slidably secured to said heel piece adj acent to the other end thereof.

"2. In a shoe tree, a toe piece, a resilient heel piece connected to said toe piece comprising a strip of resilient metal, and a decorative non-metallic cover'for said heel piece overlying the shoe engaging end thereof riveted to said resilient strip at intervals, provision being made for slippage between certain of said rivets and the cover strip.

3. In a shoe tree, a toe piece, a resilient spring metal heel piece connected to said toe piece adapted to be tensioned by bending the heel piece between said toe piece and the heel end of a shoe in which the tree is inserted to thrust the toe piece into the shoe, and a cover of sheet celluloid attached to said heel. piece at intervals, said cover being firmly attached to the heel piece at the heel end and provided with slots of varying lengths adjacent to said attaching means to allow slippage between the forward end 01" the cover and the heel piece as the covered heel piece is flexed.

l. In a shoe tree, a celluloid toe piece and a resilient heel piece connected. to said toe piece adapted to be tensioned between said toe piece and the heel end of a shoe in which the tree is placed to thrust the toe piece into the shoe, and a cover of sheet celluloid loosely riveted to said heel piece at intervals, said cover being provided with slots of varying lengths adjacent to said attaching means to allow slippage between the cover and the heel piece as the covered heel piece is flexed, the slot adjacent to an end of the heel piece being longer than the slot at an intermediate,

point in said heel piece.

5. In a shoe tree, a toe piece and a resilient heel piece connected to said toe piece having: a looped outer end, said heel piece being provided with a cover of flexible material, the end of which is interposed between two parts 01 the looped end and secured to said looped end by means of a fastening member, passing through the end of the cover and said heel piece. r

(i. In a shoe tree, a toe piece and a resilient heel piece connected to said toe piece having a looped outer end, said heel piece being provided with a cover of flexible materiahthe end of which is interposed between two parts of the looped end and held by means of a lastening member extending through the end of the cover and arranged to hold the loop of the heel piece in curved relation.

7. In a shoe tree, a toe piece, a resilient heel piece connected to said toe piece formed of fiat spring metal, said heel piece being bent to form a loop at its outer end, and a cover for said heel piece, the end of which is interposed bctween the end of the loop and the body of the heel piece, and is secured in that position by a fastening member which passes through the end of the cover and two thicknesses of the looped heel piece, said cover eX- tending over the outer end of said fastening member and along said upper surface, and means for securing said cover to the heel piece at another point adjacent to the other end of the heel piece.

8. In a shoe tree, a hollow toe piece comprising a resilient curved upper portion having inturned bottom flanges, a rigid bridge member loosely secured to said flanges to allow the resilience of the toe piece to be eiiective in expanding the sides of its curved upper portion against the inside of the shoe, and a heel piece connected to said bridge member.

9. In a shoe tree, aresilient heel piece comprising a strip of resilient material, a cover for said heel piece secured to said resilient strip at intervals, and a reinforcing device secured to the under side of said heel piece at an intermediate point constructed and arranged to prevent undue bonding of the heel piece.

10. In a shoe tree, a resilient heel piece comprising a strip of resilient material, a cover for said heel piece, attaching means for securing said cover to said heel piece at intervals, one of said attaching means being located near the center of the heel piece, and a reinforcement secured to said heel piece by said last-mentio11ed attaching means.

11. In a shoe tree, a toe piece, a resilient heel piece connected to said toe piece comprising a strip of resilient material, a cover for said heel piece riveted to said resilient strip at intervals, provision being made for slippage between certain of said rivets and the cover strip, one of said rivets being located at an intermediate point in the length of the heel piece, and a circular reinforceago merit secured to the under side of said heel' piece 'by said lest-mentioned rivet which rivet is loosely clenched to allow slippage as aforesaid and to permit the reinforcement to Contact at its edges with the heel piece as the latter is bent.

In testimony whereof We have signed our names to this specification.

' SEXTUS A. EDDINS.

GERALD M. HANNIGAN. 

